Shouled Minorities Get Special Treatment From Colleges? Equality For All Should Be Rule

April 7, 1993|By SETH LITZENBLATT, Fort Lauderdale High

Only two criteria should be considered when determining whether a student should be given special treatment for a scholarship -- financial need and academic achievement.

In the 1990s, everyone is faced with financial burdens and challenges. The average family can no longer afford to send a child to a university. A private university can easily cost $25,000 a year. Though the tuition isn`t as steep, living expenses at a state university, such as the University of Florida, cost at least $5,000 per year.

Many students who work hard in school and have the qualifications to go to college are not able to attend a university because of the cost. This is where a college scholarship does a great deal of good.

It is not fair if someone who is not as qualified academically as another student receives a college scholarship just because he or she belongs to a certain gender or ethnic group.

Florida Atlantic University started the Martin Luther King Jr. scholarship with an honorable goal -- to increase the number of blacks students at the school, which had a very low enrollment of blacks. Now, any black student who attends the school can receive a full-tuition scholarship, although he or she must have at least a combined SAT score of 1,000 and a grade point average of 3.0.

I can`t help but object to such scholarships where race is a criteria, particularly at a public university such as FAU.

A college scholarship should be given according to financial need and academic achievement. Choosing people because they are a certain sex or race ahead of other more-qualified candidates is an example of discrimination.